Newsvine Fraud News

April 22, 2016

Ransomware cyber attacks are growing and it can happen to anyone, anywhere. The attacks can be on a personal computer or even take down an entire network at a hospital. Organizations posing as law enforcement, government agencies, banks, and credit card companies are using deceptive links and websites to install malware - which essentially holds all of your files ransom, encrypts and demands payment to restore them.

But this doesn’t have to happen to you. There are several very simple steps which can help safeguard you from attacks.

Anti-virus software - Every personal computer should have it. There are a lot commercial anti-virus software programs to choose from, and they are worth the investment. Once you have the software, make sure that it’s installed correctly with the most up-to-date version, that it’s always on, and that you have it set to alert you when there are updates to install.

If your computer does become infected and you don’t have an anti-virus program set up, you can install one to “clean” your computer, but you may need additional assistance to help restore your hard drive.

Anti-virus programs are equally, if not more important, for businesses – but because most businesses have software on their computers which prohibit users from downloading software it’s up to the company’s IT department to keep their users protected. Most business updates need to be done via a server to all their user’s computers and devices; this includes not only anti-virus software, but operating systems and third-party applications. Businesses should conduct security training for their users, as to what is and isn’t acceptable on company devices, including mobile ones. In addition, there should be computer usage, security, and security awareness policies in place.

Corporate IT departments need to routinely conduct risk assessments, as well as alert users of any new viruses or bogus and fraudulent emails that may be circulating.

Back up Everything, Frequently – It is essential that you are backing up your files on a regular basis. If you are hit with ransomware or any other type of virus and your computer and its files can’t be saved, you will have your backups to do a system restore or rebuild.

Consider The Cloud – Rather than keeping all of your files on a hard drive or server, consider moving bigger more important files to the cloud. Cloud storage will allow you to access your files remotely without the risk of them being infected by ransomware if your computer or server is hit.

Keep Everything Up-To-Date – It’s not just your anti-virus software that you need to keep updated. You should also keep your operating system and all of your programs updated with the latest versions. By keeping them updated you’ll be on top of any issues that may arise, as well as alerted to security warnings from the software manufacturers.

Avoid Suspicious Sites and Emails – If you are unsure of the sender, or an email comes with an attachment you aren’t expecting, delete it. Opening a suspicious email or clicking on a suspicious site could launch ransomware onto your computer.

It’s important that you make sure that all of your family, co-workers and employees know the risks of ransomware and how to protect themselves and that they should never pay the ransom. Not only is it feeding into criminal activity, but there is no guarantee you’ll get the encryption code promised to get full functionality back to your computer.

February 29, 2016

With just one click your files, credit cards, medical records and other personal information could be hacked with ransomware malware. Earlier this month, a cyberattack on Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center took the hospital’s medical records hostage, demanding ransom in the form of Bitcoins.

Bitcoin is a virtual currency. Transactions are made anonymously without bank involvement. Since Bitcoins aren’t tied to any country or subject to any regulations, international payments are easy and cheap. Every user has a Wallet ID, but the names of the buyers and sellers are never revealed. This level of anonymity provides the perfect breeding ground for transactions such as ransomware.

It would be nice if there was a list of things to look for to help prevent these attacks, but ransomware is evolving. Hackers are finding new ways to completely lock your computer systems and block access to all of your files and encrypt them. Emails that look like they are coming from utility companies, credit card companies, and even banks contain files that once they are clicked will overtake your system.

While Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center chose to pay the ransom via Bitcoin citing the need to get back patient medial records and the hospital back up and running as soon as possible, paying ransom isn’t the way to go.

First, even if you pay whatever is being asked there is no guarantee you’ll get the encryption code to access your files, and since nearly all of these ransom requests are made through anonymous payment methods – like Bitcoin – there’s no tracing where the money went, therefore no way to go after the attacker.

Second, if you pay the ransom the hackers may see you as an easy target and come back for more.

Third, by paying ransom you are feeding into the criminality of the entire operation. Providing money to these hackers will allow them to up their game with new malware and build out the ransomware malware network.

If anything looks suspicious in your email don’t click it, and if you think you’ve been infected by malware shut down your computer and disconnect it from any server in order to minimize the risk of infecting the entire network.

There are five fundamental thinks you should always remember to do when working on your computer while connected the Internet:

Count to ten and think before you click: Do not click on any URL embedded in an email, even from someone you know, unless you confirm that email came from the sender.

Update everything: Keep your operating system updated otherwise you might be dismissing an important security update.

Backup your files: If you fail to do anything else, this is the most important task you must do on a daily basis. There are many external trusted sites you can use to backup your computer

Secure you wireless network: Make sure you use a strong password when setting up your Wi-Fi router

Use strong password: Avoid using your cat and dog names. Instead include at least one number, a capital letter, symbols such as # or $, and make your password is at least six characters.

January 22, 2016

Cloud-based solutions are no longer the wave of the future they are a necessary driver for most Enterprise businesses. The “cloud” which is really just a very large, remotely-connected server to store and access data isn’t a new phenomenon, but there are still the same old concerns about how secure data really is out there in Cyber Space.

The truth is you can control the safety of your data. Your overall cloud strategy and your use of the technology play a large part in the security process. It can range from choosing what you put on the cloud; to different models of service delivery like IaaS, PaaS, or SaaS; to what cloud-based server you use.

There are some very big, well-known companies with pretty good track records, like Rackspace, Microsoft, Amazon, and Google that have teams of people working around the clock on security and monitoring and can immediately identify, assess and remedy potential risks or threats. That’s something that most locally housed IT infrastructures can’t match. By storing data in the cloud businesses free up local IT infrastructure and are able to cut costs, but with any investment you must weigh the risk versus the reward.

So what are some of the things you need to consider before putting certain information in the cloud?

Data Breach: One of the major concerns when using the cloud is a data breach. The cloud presents greater challenges since you’re dealing with hypervisors and other external shared networked infrastructure. Data breaches can release personal information such as a person’s social security number or access to their credit or debit cards. Over the past couple of years, companies such as Target, Experian and Anthem BlueCross Blue Shield have been hit with major data breaches exposing personal information of millions of customers.

Data Loss and Recovery: While the data breach is considered a malicious of intrusive action, a data loss maybe a result of sever or storage malfunction. If your provider goes off-line and your data is lost, can it be recovered? Data sent to the cloud is encrypted as one of the many steps to ensure privacy. The downside is that encrypted data is harder to recover, especially if the encryption key is lost too.

Data Access: What information are you putting out there and who is going to have access to it? Sensitive, classified, or confidential information may not warrant storage on the cloud. You want to be able to monitor who has access to your data and their activities. Are these people authorized to access the data, and if not they need to be shut out of the network. You may also want to limit access to certain levels of individuals to mitigate any potential misuse of your data.

Data Availability: Storing data externally means you don’t have complete control of it anymore. Your cloud storage could go offline and someone else is now responsible for getting it back up. You want to make sure that whatever provider you chose has a proven record of highly available data and a quick turnaround for getting the system back on-line should it go down. All this needs to be spelled out in a Service Level Agreement (SLA).

Cloud-based solutions offer benefits for companies large and small, local and worldwide. What works best for a large company may not for a smaller one, but there are many options available that can make storing, sharing and accessing data more efficient and cost-effective no matter what business you are in.

March 04, 2007

Without imposed regulations, financial services organizations would only want enough information about their customers in order to offer them more products.However, reputation risk, theft and terrorism are forcing the industry to really and truly know not only their customers, but also their customer’s customers. For example, they want to know whether their customers are connected to politically exposed persons, conducting business from a questionable country on a watch list, or operating through or dealing with a questionable shell company.

As banks and financial services are tightening their risk management programs, criminals are resorting to carrying out their crimes using other available instruments including: identity theft, mortgage, insurance, credit card, and charge card fraud. This leaves other fraud potential channels wide open to criminals.In my opinion, all service industries must make the effort to know their customers extremely well.This will not only enable them to offer rich and personalized customer experiences, but will also assist them in preserving their reputation, weed out criminals, and avoid monitory losses.

As the global connectivity provided by the internet is allowing companies to build networked communities with customers, partners, and vendors, it has forced those companies to operate beyond their local boundaries. This in turn has posed a security risk by enabling not only partners and customers but also criminals to access data and conduct fraudulent transactions. Companies need to make every effort to manage the risk imposed on them as well as the risks imposed on their clients.The entities who will address these challenges will not only avoid major losses and reputation risk, but will also realize revenue gain and positive recognition from the market.

February 03, 2007

The TJX Security Breach is a good example of how a major risk has been ignored or missed. As a public company, TJX must comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley regulatory compliance which should have uncovered this issue and many other related issues. In addition, their auditors should have pointed out to any weakness in their systems and financial controls as part of their annual audit review.

Aside from the regulatory compliance and annual third party audits, TJX’s approach to security obviously needs to be updated to match the ever growing number of fraud schemes. With TJX and sadly with too many other firms, security is not as strategic and is not on the CEO’s radar screen. Security is not a project that starts and ends. You can start a security plan and implement it but you should never end it.

Credit card Breaches (CCB) are not new and have been with us since the introduction of credit cards. The breaches however have grown in sophistication. There are now many CCB channels available to criminals for them to use. The Internet is the key conduit to all those channels which house Personally Identifiable Data (PID) such as name, address, social security number, credit cards numbers, and telephone number. Those channels might be wireless devices, personal computers, online and retail stores, and third party list providers.

When it comes to credit card transactions, there are multiple constituencies involved: merchants, credit card companies, and banks. Most credit card companies today already have or are in the process of installing fraud detection technology that will alert them when a credit card is being misused or used outside the known buying behavior of its holder. The alert will limit the theft but does not prevent it. In order to prevent a fraudulent transaction, the merchant must have access to a real time fraud detection technology that will stop the transaction before it is complete. For example, a credit card holder who lives in California used her credit card two hours ago buying groceries near her home, but when a transaction using the same credit card is taking place within five hours in London, the merchant in London should reject that transaction.

Whether real time or not, the inconvenience and the cost to replace a credit card will not be eliminated. A concerted effort and coordination between banks, merchants, and credit card companies to secure PID must be established and implemented. Today, card issuers have an elaborate process when they send a brand new credit card to a customer. The customer must call a special # and activate her card before she can start using it, and instructions on whom to call when a card is lost are provided. But this is where the elaborate secure process starts and ends between a card issuer and a customer. Once within the merchant’s hands, both the customer and card issuer are clueless about how the card’s information is being used and protected. This is what I call the “broken link” and much can be done between card issuers and merchants to fix it.

Merchants must also bear the responsibility to protect their customers’ PID. While they do not have to comply with the financial services regulatory compliance, they must make a diligent effort to protect their client’s information or risk their reputation and ultimately their business. On the other hand, the financial services industry must provide merchants with technology that will proactively identify and stop a fraudulent transaction when it is taking place. The time is now for all commerce constituencies to work together in order to respond to this serious threat.